HM01 and other Numbers Stations

I can get HM01 very clearly on my small radio even with the whip down:

http://ubuntuone.com/7VdudfaCEFuns7bOdqxPc7
(Tue May 28 05:30UTC, 12120kHz, SW Ontario)

I have never been able to hear any other stations on this radio though. Is it just because HM01 is very strong?

thanks,
Pete

Well it would be helpful to know what 'other stations' you'd like to hear. The Ontario DX Association is right in your back yard, quite literally, and there are many online resources that you can use

As to number stations that are loud, it's known that at least some originate from Habana Cuba - their operation is very sloppy, and it came out a few years ago that after a number station signed off, R Habana came right up on the same frequency. There have been other instances of hearing RH in the background of the numbers station.

There's a whole sub culture of the hobby that tracks numbers stations - if you're interested, just do a search on the Numbers and Oddities website - Google it...and start reading

Mike

Thanks ka3jjz


I've read pages and pages from a dozen sites on numbers stations. Listened to almost all the audio files on the conet project, read through the Enigma 2000 newsletter when it comes out.

So I have some pretty reliable lists of frequencies and times...but nothing except HM01...hence the question...is HM01 just that much stronger than the rest of the stations (E07A, E11, E06, etc, even the morse stations)

It's hard or impossible to find reviews on my specific radio for this specific purpose, so maybe the Grundig G6 is just not up to par for utility listening...

HM01 is the designation for the Cuban numbers stations. As their transmitters are a short jump from the US mainland, it's not hard to understand why you hear them so well

Not to go too OT here, but the G6 is a portable, and as such, it does limit you to some extent. A small external aerial (even 20-30 foot of wire) would help, but really, these small portables are kinda limited in the performance category. There are many better choices (some desktops, and many new Software Defined Radios (SDRs)) out there (even the old workhorse the Icom R75 and the Alinco R8T have their followers)

SDRs offer a lot of flexibility but I would not consider them plug and play. They do take some work to install, but once done, you have a pretty nice setup, once you get a nice aerial out there - something these small portables simply cannot handle. They would overload badly with a big aerial.

There are a few websites that have online receivers that you can use. Global Tuners is one, and there's even a network of Perseus (a very popular SDR) users out there. I'll wager you've seen that mentioned before in the logs that a person was using a web receiver to hear something they can't ordinarily hear due to propagation conditions. This article from our wiki has the links...

Live Tunable Receivers - The RadioReference Wiki

It's an inexpensive way to try out radios before you buy...Mike

You're probably hearing the Cuban one and not the others because it's located so close to the U.S. and probably is beaming its signal here. I've heard it on portables (on their whips -- even old, transistor multibanders) in the past.

The other numbers stations seem to originate from much farther away (Asia, Europe).

I'd attach 10-20 ft. of wire to the antenna terminal (or attached to the whip) of your G6 and see what it gets. I've done utility listening with digital portables. It can be done. You just have to work with your radio. I've read on the EHam ham sites review page that some other guys have listened to utility stations with their G6's.

pete0403 said:

Thanks ka3jjz


I've read pages and pages from a dozen sites on numbers stations. Listened to almost all the audio files on the conet project, read through the Enigma 2000 newsletter when it comes out.

So I have some pretty reliable lists of frequencies and times...but nothing except HM01...hence the question...is HM01 just that much stronger than the rest of the stations (E07A, E11, E06, etc, even the morse stations)

It's hard or impossible to find reviews on my specific radio for this specific purpose, so maybe the Grundig G6 is just not up to par for utility listening...

Click to expand...

HM01 is transmitted from Cuba, using the Radio Habana Cuba transmitter facilities (this is not speculation, but fact, recordings exist of the station changing from Radio Habana audio to HM01 audio without leaving the air). As such its minimum power is 100 kW and some of the R. Habana transmitters are much more powerful than that. So, HM01 (and SK01, M08, and V02, although all of those appear to be either inactive or very rare since HM01 was adopted) is transmitted from a location close to the USA and with very high power. This makes it easy to hear in the North America.

Other stations you list, such as E06, E07, E11, etc are sourced in Europe, much further away than Cuba. Also, such stations do NOT generally use broadcast power level transmitters. In general the specifics of the transmitters for these stations are unknown, so the exact power level is speculation, but many of them are probably using military grade transmitter facilities. These kinds of facilities are probably 25 kW or significantly less. These kinds of signals are lower power and must travel a greater distance to be heard in the US/Canada, and so they are weaker and harder to hear.

Utilities are often relatively (compared to BC stations) low power and NOT generally intended for world wide coverage. So their antennas, power levels, and time of day vs frequency, are selected to optimize coverage in the desired area, wherever the desired recipient is located. This can make them a challenge to hear if you are not in the same general region as the intended recipient. As a general rule any portable with built in whip is a poor choice for utility stations. For utilities you typically want a receiver with good sensitivity (not a problem for portables), with good selectivity and wide dynamic range (not generally the realm of portables). You also often need a fairly good antenna, and many portables have a real problem with overloading when connected to a good antenna.

You say you have a “pretty reliable list of frequencies and times”, are you sure? Where did you get those lists and how current are they?

Assuming the lists you have are good, are you trying to do something that is not realistically possible? By this I mean are you matching frequencies and times to probable propagation conditions? For example, you are in Ont, Canada. If you are trying to hear an E07 transmission that is on 6432 kHz at 2100 UTC (not a real schedule, I just made it up for an example) you are VERY unlikely to hear it, no matter how good your radio or antenna. At that time it is still daylight at your location, and the source for this transmission is probably in eastern Europe, meaning that location is in darkness. That frequency is good for regional coverage during daylight hours and longer range at night. In this example the signal is too far to be regional and it is not yet dark for you. The signal may be transmitted, right on schedule, but conditions will not allow you to hear it. Such a transmission (same freq) at say 0300 UTC would be much more likely to be heard by you as both you and the source are in darkness and there is a nightime path for the signal to get to you.

So, you must look at the probable source locations, the frequencies used, and the times used. Assessing all of these factors with how average or probable propagation affects signals, then select transmissions you might be able to hear. Doing this will increase you chance of success and reduce frustration from trying to do something that is not really possible.

T!

As Token correctly describes, understanding how propagation works on HF is another key in understanding what you can and cannot hear. A lot of people tend to shy away from this topic because it can get very scientific in nature, but the facts are that you don't need a degree in GeoPhysics to understand the basics, which is all you really need when you start out. This website is a very good place to start...

Propagation Primer - Flash Movie by AE4RV

As your understanding grows there are other websites with much more complex information to look at, but not right now...Mike

Wow, some really good info for a beginner there! Thanks for taking the time to write that out Token and Mike.

I've never even considered propagation. I'll look over all that info and try to be a little more strategic in my listening.

The lists I'm using are available in the May/13 ENIGMA 2000 newsletter. They are spot on for HM01 so I was assuming that the other stations were close in accuracy as well, but everything you guys said makes sense and I'll use that knowledge going forward.

Thanks again.

Why am I SO intrigued with all this numbers station stuff! Now that I have a few SW listening devices, I'l try to find more. I did hear one last night round about (before) 04:00CUT and it was strong! It stopped transmitting right round 04:00 though. Heard it for about 5 minutes. Can't remember the Hz but did note it in a paper log.

If you have not already been there the #wunclub IRC channel on the Starchat server is a resource you might want to visit. That IRC channel is NOT numbers specific, it is general utilities oriented, but real time reports of numbers stations do often happen there. The #priyom IRC channel on Freenode is specifically numbers oriented, but the majority of the users in that channel are in Europe, so what they report and what you might be able to hear may not correlate well.

Both of these IRC channels can be accessed via a webchat feature if you do not have an IRC client to use. I recommend an IRC client however, such as XChat, it does work better than webchat.

#wunclub webchat link: JavaChat
#priyom webchat link: freenode Web IRC (qwebirc)

With regards to #wunclub, many users stay connected to that chat 24 hours a day (as do I, to log everything reported when I am not there) so if you stick your head in and say hi but no one responds, but you see 60 to 80 people in there, it is not them being pricks about it, they just might not actually be at the keyboard at the time. Or, if people are there they might have the window minimized and be using the same PC to log/search/scan frequencies, they might not see a comment for many minutes until they get back to the chat. There are only about 25 or so truly active users, the other 40 to 60 are lurkers who never talk, but you end up finding the frequencies and traffic reported here printed and published in the oddest locations later. In general evenings and mornings US time are the most active, mid-day there may not be many people active. Friday and Saturday nights are active until pretty late.

Some people on #wunclub are anti-numbers or at least apathetic to them, so don’t be surprised if a few throw remarks if you ask about numbers stations, numbers station listening is a niche in the utilities community that not everyone likes . Part of the issue is that at times (such as after a movie/game containing them or a show about them airs) we can get up to a couple hundred people a day popping into the chat for a couple minutes each asking quite often dense questions / comments about numbers stations (example: “Is it true numbers stations can control your mind just like HAARP?” “I heard aliens were sending these and I need you to help me find proof.” And the ever popular “I heard UVB-76 was off the air again and that means we were going to war.”). And it can grate on the nerves of even the people in the room who do follow numbers stations. Particularly galling when people who have no contact with radio at all, and don’t own any hardware, learn that you cannot just tune in any time you want on iTunes and hear a station, and end up taking it out on the room for not being able to link them to an active station right now.

Personally, while I do often report numbers stations to the #wunclub channel, numbers are not my focus. I enjoy them when I find them, but don’t really look for them very actively. My focus is more on oddities, military comms, and radar/sounder signals, since these are areas near and dear to me.

T!

Token said:

Personally, while I do often report numbers stations to the #wunclub channel, numbers are not my focus. I enjoy them when I find them, but don’t really look for them very actively. My focus is more on oddities, military comms, and radar/sounder signals, since these are areas near and dear to me.

Click to expand...

You like these subjects only because HAARP makes you like them! :twisted:

You also forgot to mention the cute little aluminum-foil hat you wear while listening to HF.

I love the whole X Files nature of all of it. But I am WEIRD!

I remember in the old days when I might stumble upon a numbers station and be amazed to be hearing a mysterious transmission. These days I run across stupid HM01 on some random frequency almost every evening. There must be lots of Communist saboteurs running around now!

Post up the Hz and such so i can try and give it a listen.

thanks....

Kev

Recent ones have been 10345, 13435 and 9440 kHz. I'll post 'em as I get 'em.

scowl said:

Recent ones have been 10345, 13435 and 9440 kHz. I'll post 'em as I get 'em.

Click to expand...

Thanks I'll enter them in and see what I can hear!

Kev

scowl said:

I remember in the old days when I might stumble upon a numbers station and be amazed to be hearing a mysterious transmission. These days I run across stupid HM01 on some random frequency almost every evening. There must be lots of Communist saboteurs running around now!

Click to expand...

The Cuban stations have always (well, for nearly a couple decades anyway) been very predictable and easy to receive in almost all of north America. The activity today is not really any higher tempo then in the past, it is just better publicized today.

T!

KD5SPJ said:

Post up the Hz and such so i can try and give it a listen.

thanks....

Kev

Click to expand...

Kev, take a look at the latest Enigma newsletter, it has a very complete schedule near the end. Here is a link to the latest: http://www.apul64.dsl.pipex.com/enigma2000/newsletters/CEN.pdf

That link will change to the latest every other month, and the HM01 schedule should be on the last few pages of edition. In the case of this month’s (July, 2013) the sched is on the very last page, page 91.

T!

Token said:

The Cuban stations have always (well, for nearly a couple decades anyway) been very predictable and easy to receive in almost all of north America. The activity today is not really any higher tempo then in the past, it is just better publicized today.

Click to expand...

I think back in the 70's the transmissions were shorter. I remember stumbling upon Spanish number stations but I recall they would usually only have messages for four or five "agents" and would be done in fifteen minutes. They needed to be fast to reduce the possibility of detection or jamming.

HM01 transmissions go on forever! The beginning of some transmissions I've heard were numbers for over a dozen "agents" then the digital part has had messages for as many as twenty or thirty "agents". I'm sure the quantity of the messages is pure deception but these long broadcasts make it easy to find HM01.

Another factor I think is in the past there was so much more to listen to on shortwave so I didn't spend much time looking for these number stations. In the 90's most RTTY was unencrypted so there were lots of stations to monitor with your computer and there were ship to ship data transmissions in FEC. Nowadays all RTTY is encrypted, ships talk to satellites, weather faxes don't excite me any more, and even Radio Havana is as tame as NPR. I can scan 16 MHz to 5 MHz in less than an hour.

scowl said:

I think back in the 70's the transmissions were shorter. I remember stumbling upon Spanish number stations but I recall they would usually only have messages for four or five "agents" and would be done in fifteen minutes. They needed to be fast to reduce the possibility of detection or jamming.

Click to expand...

Today when you say “Spanish numbers station” most people think of V02, but that is not the only Spanish station out there (indeed, it may not even be there anymore), HM01 has taken its place in the last 9 months. There are other Spanish numbers stations, such as V07, that are short and happen infrequently. In the case of V07 the transmissions are significantly less than 20 minutes (sometimes only 2 minutes) and they happen one day a week. This station sends one message to one recipient, each week.

Other language numbers stations, German, English, Slavic, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, etc, are generally still shorter transmissions, often 20 minutes or less per message. Some Chinese stations run long, such as V26, which can be anything from a minute or two to 45+ minutes. V13 is about 31 minutes per transmission, and has been for many years.

Spanish language V02 is the most well known Spanish language station, and it has gone through changes over the years. Yes, years ago it was shorter for each transmission, then sometime in the late 80’s or early 90’s they went to a 150 count message for everything, making each message much longer. When they made this three messages back to back, each 150 count, then the time became close to one hour. When HM01 took over they continued the one hour per message format, only now they made it sometimes two hours, one hour each on two separate frequencies.

T!